Vulnerable Workers

The increased use of contingent (i.e., non-permanent) employment arrangements is transforming Canadian workplaces. Tasks that might have been given to permanent employees in the past are increasingly being given to workers hired on a temporary basis and to independent contractors or “gig” workers. We study how individuals adapt to contingent work arrangements, and the true organizational costs of hiring different types of contingent workers, including through Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program. We also study the effects of wage theft in Canadian workplaces. Wage theft is not simply paying low wages; rather, it is violating labor laws by failing to pay wages that are legally owed.